Before the member here Vess1 made his thread on buying a replica on ebay (which was advertised as clearly having replica or copy stamped on it) when it arrived had no such copy or replica on it. I ordered a $2.50 Indian as well from a prominent chinese seller, which in the description of the coin said it had 'copy' or 'replica' stamped on the coin and was such. I paid $93 cents for it. I received the coin in the mail, and to my surprise, it didn't have copy or replica stamped on it. I'm posting this thread as well along with Vess1's analysis of the semi key date buffalo. I checked both coins (The semi key buffalo) and this 'gold' coin I bought. The buffalo appears to be a cast copy, a good one though. The surfaces are very grainy under a microscope, in contrast to the smooth surface of a genuine coin. The letters are also very weak and grainy, but this is only apparent under a loupe. The $2.50 I received however is a much worse replica. There appears to be a line across the obverse and reverse, I suppose from how it was cast. The coin is definitely not struck, the details are very weak (especially on the headdress), grainy, and the coin is underweight. There are no pimples on the coin. The coin does not appear to be made out of gold. Note: Especially on the reverse, look on weak the motto "In god we trust" is. This is an especially bad counterfeit.
That is a pretty bad (and obvious) copy. I'm pretty convinced that there is no need to have "REPLICA" stamped on it.
Don't be surprised about replicas not being marked. The only way you get "COPY" stamped on a coin from our Chinese friends is to request it. The additional stamping operation cuts into their profit margin.
Are you sure the curved line is on the coin itself? It looks like it might be where the coin pushed into the plastic flip, then moved slightly. The reason the coins look poorly struck is that they are supposed to look worn right out of the press, then treated to give authentic old look to the metal. The cheap eBay sellers don't bother finishing them when they sell for $1, since they aren't really tryng to fool anyone.
